Seeking input! Need to finalize kitchen layout for old home

last year

Hello! I've been planning a kitchen remodel for months and it's nearing the point where I have to lock things down in order to proceed. I've already received some great feedback from this forum and am back for another round to see if the great minds here think this new and (hopefully) improved layout will work.

Backstory: we plan to remove the wall between the kitchen and dining room, and to rearrange things to solve some current traffic issues in the house. The house is 120 years old and has some real layout constraints, including a column and some wall segments that need to stay (highlighted in pink in the plans).

Here is the new, proposed plan:

And here is the kitchen in context of the rest of the 1st floor (minus the living room which spans the full front of the house).

I'd really appreciate any feedback on this layout. This plan has the kitchen sink moved to the island, which I was really trying to avoid but I can't think of any other way to make this work.

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thanks in advance.

Comments (4)

herbflavor
last year
for 50 in wall / instead of microwave and decorative glass doors I'd do a reduced depth pantry set up....you can do it a few different ways. then I'd get some overhang and stools on center run. I'd not use full 30 in for trash......what are the cabinet sizes along the longwall? do you have wall cabinets? better in your kitchen to have microwave on a ledge of a wall cabinet near the fridge I think. You could put a glass door cab to right of pink area on back wall......near dining zone if that is important to you. I would add seating in the center area for sure. the sink and d washer on center area is fine as far as my sentiment on that.....however its recommended to avoid back to back sink w stove......can you shift the stove? posting actual cabinet choices /sizes/type might solicit valuable opinions.....unless you havent gotten that far??? cant tell.
HU-918119203
last year
I suspect the pantry is where it is to conceal the plumbing stack with a full-height cabinet. That makes sense. I still would move the microwave and do a drawer microwave in the island, and turn that into another pantry. That would free up some space for counter seating if you want it. Otherwise, this looks pretty good to me.
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I think your plan looks great. I do think a prep sink would make it even better. This would make it easier for someone to prep while others are cleaning. This also gets your oven door down from the DW door so both can be open at the same time. However, this would mess up the symmetry of your windows. If, by chance, you don't really need the storage in those uppers, I would eliminate them or make them narrower and widen the windows. So, really, just thoughts to consider but your plan is nice as is. If you forego the prep sink, I hope your main sink is quite large. It's hard to tell but I'm guessing it's about 30" from the drawing. I think you would benefit by having a 36" sink which would allow for washing up on one side while someone preps on the other side. I wish I could advise you on the fridge/freezer issue. When my two kids were still living at home, we never had bigger than a 33" fridge/freezer, one of those dreaded side-by-sides. It fit enough for us along with the extra freezer in the garage. My DH, at age 60, still eats as much as two teenage boys so we probably had similar food storage needs. But, of course, we all cook different and store different foods so maybe our needs were quite different. What kind of fridge/freezer do you have and how does it work for you? I suggest you use that as your guide. I really like your entire floorplan a lot. It looks like it's going to be a very pleasant home to live in and will work great if you plan on aging-in-place in this home. I like there are is very little space "wasted" to hallways and the light you'll get in your main living spaces without the split bedrooms so common in today's plans. I just wonder if you might prefer having a little more space in the great room by taking a foot or two from the master bedroom like this. You still have plenty of space to walk in front of the bed and just think adding some width in the great room gives you a bit more breathing room there. Just a thought.
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My wife normally does most of the cooking for our family but has friends who also enjoy cooking and will help out when over, so up to 3 people working in the kitchen at a time. Breakfast and lunch will likely be at island (we figured we could seat up to four there (three at outside edge and one just around the corner across from the entry to the pantry) dinner will be at the dining table which is just out of shot in the drawing but part of an open concept layout. In terms of types of cooking... a bit of everything really, stirfries, braises, roasts. She only bakes occasionally but has been known to make macarons, meringues, and other types of treats for teachers gifts/ parties, etc. (hence the preference for electric oven). We would go with a dual fuel range but that isn't a possibility with the BlueStar. We usually don't entertain large groups probably up to 12 at a time. We have a desk drawn in but during our site visit today we realized it's sort of puny and the kids will likely prefer to pull up to the island for homework rather than staring at the wall so we thought we would turn that area into a concealed storage for phone, mail, stationery, etc. In terms of the refrigeration, we figured a 36" fridge and 30" freezer would be adequate based on what we are currently using.... although feedback is helpful here as kids are still small. We do have a secondary fridge & deep freeze currently which could reside in the garage but we've also considered ditching those for a secondary fridge in the pantry just to keep the groceries central to the kitchen. My wife is the only coffee drinker in the house and we currently have a very compact Nespresso machine which serves the purpose, I don't think we need a dedicated breakfast bar/ coffee bar area. In terms of the range hood, there is a second floor but we've allocated space for the ventilation to pass through (behind a closet) to the roof with hopes of mounting the fan remotely to reduce noise. Thank you for the thorough questions!
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User
last year
Beautiful layout :)

I would remove the coffee station entirely, widen the pantry as much as possible towards the double doors, and put the microwave (and maybe the coffee machine too) in the pantry:

Then I'd make the island deeper and fit storage on the other side (instead of seating):
sconset123
Original Author
last year
Many thanks for your great input!

That's correct that the pantry is there to hide the plumbing stack, and also because there is a wall segment next to it that needs to stay. I'll play around with the idea of putting a microwave there, interesting idea! I was planning for a drawer microwave but am not tied to that idea.

I would love to have island seating and will see if I can make that work. I explored something similar to the plan you so kindly shared, but was worried that I wouldn't have enough cabinet and counter space. That part of the kitchen is also tricky because it serves as a "hallway" between rooms and is currently a traffic issue.

herbflavor, I do plan wall cabinets but I don't have the actual cabinet sizes finalized. I plan on an 18 inch trash drawer and could certainly shift the stove. My goal is to figure out where the sink, appliances, and trash will go and then build the rest of the kitchen around that.

It's great to hear this feedback. The first time I posted my kitchen plan I was told to "start over" (and rightfully so!). I'm very relieved that my updated plan seems to work a lot better!

Seeking input! Need to finalize kitchen layout for old home

Comments (4)

herbflavor

HU-918119203

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sconset123
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Seeking input! Need to finalize kitchen layout for old home

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herbflavor

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